The track record of Vivendi, Suez and Thames has not been good. Atlanta just terminated its contract with Suez subsidiary United Water due to poor performance. Vivendi has performed very poorly in Great Britain, Puerto Rico and Argentina. Thames' environmental record in Great Britain includes 233 pollution incidents and 8 prosecutions in 1999 alone, according to research by Public Services International.

GATS locks in commitments made to open up specific services to foreign competition, so once the U.S. commits to including water/sewer services or the USPS, they will not be able to back out.

Ruth Caplan
Alliance for Democracy
Washington DC Office
3407 34th Place NW
Washington DC 20016
rcaplan@igc.org
202-244-0561 phone
202-537-6045 fax
http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org
Please also see CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION/POSITIVE ALTERNATIVES:
http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/globalization

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